Koplowicz.com

Since high school I've maintained a collection of famous quotes.  It's the same reason I'm so into photography; when I see something beautiful, I want to hold on to it forever.  If it's an image, I take a picture.  If it's a beautiful phrase, I write it down.

I've kept this collection on my computer and have only shared it with a few people over the years.  I finally decided to put it online.  You can thank Ben Jonas and James Joyce.

Last year my friend Ben read through Ulysses, cover to cover.  Like Mount Everest, it's a feat at which many have attempted, but few have succeeded.  A lot of the books we are forced to read in high school and college are there simply because of their historical impact, or because our English teachers were subjected to these things and now they get to inflict the same pain on the next generation.  (Think The Scarlet Letter.)  Ulysses is not one of those books.  It's famous not only because it was the first of its kind and pioneered a new kind of narrative, and broke new ground for portrayals of Jews in Gentile literature, and because it's really long, and written by one of the most famous Irish writers of all time.  It's also famous because it's really, really good.  From the opening scene, where stately, plump Buck Mulligan bursts into your world, Joyce has you hooked.  It is a masterpiece on the level of Beethoven's 9th and deserves all the acclaim it has ever received.

As with so many other great works, when I began reading I began writing down quotes.  Since I took the book places, I wrote down the quotes on my Blackberry.  But technology is ever fallible and a month ago I lost all my Ulysses quotes.  Also I had it checked out from the library too long and had to return the book and pay a late fee.  Now, with the bar exam over, I finally had time to check out the book again, and begin to rebuild my collection of James Joyce quotes.  I decided my website was a more reliable repository than my cell phone.  While I was at it, I decided to put my entire collection online, organized by author.

So, please enjoy my collection of famous quotes.

J<